Building platforms for conversations to take place about your business, products and services also allows you to monitor and be a part of the conversations that are already taking place.
By monitoring what people are saying, you have an opportunity to join in on the conversation to help convert prospects to customers. You also have the opportunity to discover potential issues before or as they arise, so that you can proactively react to these issues.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Benefits of Adding Social Media in Your Marketing Mix
Integrating social media into your marketing mix is just one additional tool that allows you to turn existing customers into repeat ones, but it is a powerful one.
Check out some of the benefits you get from including social media marketing:
1. Social media extends your reach to attract new customers
2. It allows you to extend your sales force without increasing your marketing budget
3. Social media marketing gives you an opportunity to effectively react to conversations about your business
4. And, to get your marketing messages out there
5. You can use social media to build up referrals as a way to boost Business, whether your company is business to business (B2B) or business to consumer (B2C) focused.
Check out some of the benefits you get from including social media marketing:
1. Social media extends your reach to attract new customers
2. It allows you to extend your sales force without increasing your marketing budget
3. Social media marketing gives you an opportunity to effectively react to conversations about your business
4. And, to get your marketing messages out there
5. You can use social media to build up referrals as a way to boost Business, whether your company is business to business (B2B) or business to consumer (B2C) focused.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Social Media Networks
With a dizzying amount of social media networks that exist, and new ones popping up every day, it can be a confusing task to choose which ones you should be focusing on for your business – especially, if you are a newbie to using social media.
Keep it simple by focusing on the primary social media networks, like:
• Facebook
• YouTube
• LinkedIn
• FourSquare
• Twitter
Each one of the social media networks has the same purpose, which is to help promote and market your business through online communication. Each one also has its own unique set of advantages or tools that make it different from the other social networks.
Facebook
Facebook is the number one social media website on the Internet. Facebook has more than 800 million registered users; these users spend one-third of their Internet time on the site, with roughly half visiting the site every day. This equates to people spending about 500 billion minutes per month on Facebook, Facebook allows its users to connect with friends, family members, co-workers and other people they know. But, do not let this fool you into thinking Facebook is just for staying in contact on a personal level.
• The average user is connected to 60 pages, groups and events
• About 7 out of 10 Internet marketers are using the Facebook “Like” button on their business website and business content or plan to implement it in the near future
• Over 700,000 local businesses have active pages
• The top three reasons people connect with a brand on Facebook is: (1) To learn about new products (35%); (2) To receive coupons and discount offers (37%); (3) To advise people they know what products/services they support (41%)
• 30 billion pieces of content, which include web links, news, blog posts and more are shared on Facebook every month
The moral of the story is that large pools of your ideal clients on Facebook, and they are using it often, most of them on a daily basis. You can leverage this as a way to communicate with your existing customers, as well as reaching entirely new audiences.
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing social media website. Companies upload how-to, advice, tips and tricks videos that pertain to their industries, promoting their businesses in the process. The videos do not have to be professionally shot and edited. In fact, the majority of the videos on YouTube are amateur videos.
Even as an amateur, you can use computer-editing software to easily add a banner along the bottom or top of your video to promote your business, or simply mention your business contact information in the video.
If you are wondering why you should bother, take a look at the numbers:
• In one year, the number of advertisers on YouTube increased by 1000%
• 20 million YouTube videos also get uploaded to Facebook each month
• There are over 2 billion views on YouTube daily
• Every minute, 24 hours’ worth of video content is uploaded to YouTube
• 9 billion video streams are served on YouTube monthly
LinkedIn
LinkedIn has more than 50 million members worldwide, with approximately 1 million more members joining every month. LinkedIn focuses more on professional social networking than either Facebook or YouTube.
As such, LinkedIn allows each user to upload information about their professional background, including their current company and position. LinkedIn has sharing tools and groups, similar to Facebook, but, again, the focus is strictly business-focused.
LinkedIn is similar to a real live networking event at a hotel meeting or ballroom, but instead it is done with an online networking site. Many professionals use LinkedIn to find businesses to outsource to or professionals for a temporary project. The advantage here is that users can see highlights from your company’s professional past, connect directly to members of your staff and see recommendations.
Need another reason?
• LinkedIn has more than 365,000 company profiles
• More than 12 million small-business professionals are members of LinkedIn
FourSquare
FourSquare is one of the most innovative social media tools because it targets the mobile society—people that are always on the go, always on their cell phones—but still want to share with other people where they are and what they are doing.
As an added bonus, users of FourSquare get special discounts, coupons and deals when they use mobile devices to “check-in” to a business location.
In other words, if you have a brick-and-mortar store, you would use FourSquare to encourage customers to help you spread word-of-mouth advertising by offering those who check-in at one of your locations a special deal, coupon or offer.
For example, an iPhone user walks into your clothing store and hits the check-in button on FourSquare. Immediately, the customer receives a coupon on his or her smartphone to save 20% off any purchase they make from your store that day. FourSquare can also tell customers what sales and specials you have going on in the store as well.
Another innovative part of FourSquare is that it can lure new customers into your store if they are near your store. Assume your clothing store is in a retail shopping strip mall. FourSquare uses geo-targeting to locate the user of the cell phone to identify where the cell phone user is and sends them alerts of all of the stores that are offering specials or deals.
Even if the person was there to visit another store, knowing they will receive a 20% off coupon for shopping in your clothing store may draw them in to look around and entice them to make a purchase.
Approximately 3 million people are checking-in on FourSquare.
FourSquare primarily offers four types of programs:
1. Check-in Specials: These are special offers that are received when the user checks-in at your business location.
2. Mayor Specials: A mayor is someone that reaches a status for sharing and recruiting others to use FourSquare to check-in at location. As a loyalty reward program, mayors receive special deals that regular members do not.
3. Frequency-based Specials: Frequent shoppers are rewarded with special discounts. This is similar to any loyalty program, similar to the old punch card system, except it is a loyalty reward program that takes place online and on mobile devices.
4. Wildcard Specials: These are just random specials that run on FourSquare as members check-in to specific location.
FourSquare is an especially effective tool for location-based businesses, but Internet-only businesses have also been able to put the tools available online to good use for word-of-mouth advertising, rewarding loyal customers, drawing in new customers and staying in touch with existing customers.
Twitter
Twitter claims to have 190 million users and that more than 100 million Tweets flying around the “Twitter-sphere” on a daily basis
The most interesting thing about Twitter is that it limits what you have to say or share, which is known as a “Tweet”, to 140 characters – not 140 letters,140 total characters, including spaces and punctuation.
In other words, it keeps to the “KISS” rule, Keep it Short and Simple.
For businesses, Twitter is an effective way to share quick snippets of information, like a promotion, appointment cancellation or quick tip.
Almost all business Tweets should include a link, where your Twitter followers can go to obtain additional information on the Tweet. To save on characters, most social media experts suggest that Twitter users use a URL shortening tool, which shortens the length of the URL shared.
This way, you won’t eat up too many of your 140 characters.
Keep it simple by focusing on the primary social media networks, like:
• YouTube
• FourSquare
Each one of the social media networks has the same purpose, which is to help promote and market your business through online communication. Each one also has its own unique set of advantages or tools that make it different from the other social networks.
Facebook is the number one social media website on the Internet. Facebook has more than 800 million registered users; these users spend one-third of their Internet time on the site, with roughly half visiting the site every day. This equates to people spending about 500 billion minutes per month on Facebook, Facebook allows its users to connect with friends, family members, co-workers and other people they know. But, do not let this fool you into thinking Facebook is just for staying in contact on a personal level.
• The average user is connected to 60 pages, groups and events
• About 7 out of 10 Internet marketers are using the Facebook “Like” button on their business website and business content or plan to implement it in the near future
• Over 700,000 local businesses have active pages
• The top three reasons people connect with a brand on Facebook is: (1) To learn about new products (35%); (2) To receive coupons and discount offers (37%); (3) To advise people they know what products/services they support (41%)
• 30 billion pieces of content, which include web links, news, blog posts and more are shared on Facebook every month
The moral of the story is that large pools of your ideal clients on Facebook, and they are using it often, most of them on a daily basis. You can leverage this as a way to communicate with your existing customers, as well as reaching entirely new audiences.
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing social media website. Companies upload how-to, advice, tips and tricks videos that pertain to their industries, promoting their businesses in the process. The videos do not have to be professionally shot and edited. In fact, the majority of the videos on YouTube are amateur videos.
Even as an amateur, you can use computer-editing software to easily add a banner along the bottom or top of your video to promote your business, or simply mention your business contact information in the video.
If you are wondering why you should bother, take a look at the numbers:
• In one year, the number of advertisers on YouTube increased by 1000%
• 20 million YouTube videos also get uploaded to Facebook each month
• There are over 2 billion views on YouTube daily
• Every minute, 24 hours’ worth of video content is uploaded to YouTube
• 9 billion video streams are served on YouTube monthly
LinkedIn has more than 50 million members worldwide, with approximately 1 million more members joining every month. LinkedIn focuses more on professional social networking than either Facebook or YouTube.
As such, LinkedIn allows each user to upload information about their professional background, including their current company and position. LinkedIn has sharing tools and groups, similar to Facebook, but, again, the focus is strictly business-focused.
LinkedIn is similar to a real live networking event at a hotel meeting or ballroom, but instead it is done with an online networking site. Many professionals use LinkedIn to find businesses to outsource to or professionals for a temporary project. The advantage here is that users can see highlights from your company’s professional past, connect directly to members of your staff and see recommendations.
Need another reason?
• LinkedIn has more than 365,000 company profiles
• More than 12 million small-business professionals are members of LinkedIn
FourSquare
FourSquare is one of the most innovative social media tools because it targets the mobile society—people that are always on the go, always on their cell phones—but still want to share with other people where they are and what they are doing.
As an added bonus, users of FourSquare get special discounts, coupons and deals when they use mobile devices to “check-in” to a business location.
In other words, if you have a brick-and-mortar store, you would use FourSquare to encourage customers to help you spread word-of-mouth advertising by offering those who check-in at one of your locations a special deal, coupon or offer.
For example, an iPhone user walks into your clothing store and hits the check-in button on FourSquare. Immediately, the customer receives a coupon on his or her smartphone to save 20% off any purchase they make from your store that day. FourSquare can also tell customers what sales and specials you have going on in the store as well.
Another innovative part of FourSquare is that it can lure new customers into your store if they are near your store. Assume your clothing store is in a retail shopping strip mall. FourSquare uses geo-targeting to locate the user of the cell phone to identify where the cell phone user is and sends them alerts of all of the stores that are offering specials or deals.
Even if the person was there to visit another store, knowing they will receive a 20% off coupon for shopping in your clothing store may draw them in to look around and entice them to make a purchase.
Approximately 3 million people are checking-in on FourSquare.
FourSquare primarily offers four types of programs:
1. Check-in Specials: These are special offers that are received when the user checks-in at your business location.
2. Mayor Specials: A mayor is someone that reaches a status for sharing and recruiting others to use FourSquare to check-in at location. As a loyalty reward program, mayors receive special deals that regular members do not.
3. Frequency-based Specials: Frequent shoppers are rewarded with special discounts. This is similar to any loyalty program, similar to the old punch card system, except it is a loyalty reward program that takes place online and on mobile devices.
4. Wildcard Specials: These are just random specials that run on FourSquare as members check-in to specific location.
FourSquare is an especially effective tool for location-based businesses, but Internet-only businesses have also been able to put the tools available online to good use for word-of-mouth advertising, rewarding loyal customers, drawing in new customers and staying in touch with existing customers.
Twitter claims to have 190 million users and that more than 100 million Tweets flying around the “Twitter-sphere” on a daily basis
The most interesting thing about Twitter is that it limits what you have to say or share, which is known as a “Tweet”, to 140 characters – not 140 letters,140 total characters, including spaces and punctuation.
In other words, it keeps to the “KISS” rule, Keep it Short and Simple.
For businesses, Twitter is an effective way to share quick snippets of information, like a promotion, appointment cancellation or quick tip.
Almost all business Tweets should include a link, where your Twitter followers can go to obtain additional information on the Tweet. To save on characters, most social media experts suggest that Twitter users use a URL shortening tool, which shortens the length of the URL shared.
This way, you won’t eat up too many of your 140 characters.
Monday, December 5, 2011
How Social Media Plays a Role in Business
To put it simply, social media is one of the myriad of marketing tools you should be using to get in front of current clients as a draw to bring in repeat business. You should also use social media to get in front of new or prospective clients and boost your business.
When you use social media as part of your business, you are creating a persona for the business. You are demonstrating there is a real person (or people) behind the business—people who care and want to be there for their clients.
The proof is in the numbers:
• By November 2007, social networking usage (time) surpassed email usage
• By July 2009, the number of social networking users had surpassed the number of email users
• Social networking accounts for 50% of all mobile Internet traffic
• Over 800 million people have social media accounts
When you use social media as part of your business, you are creating a persona for the business. You are demonstrating there is a real person (or people) behind the business—people who care and want to be there for their clients.
The proof is in the numbers:
• By November 2007, social networking usage (time) surpassed email usage
• By July 2009, the number of social networking users had surpassed the number of email users
• Social networking accounts for 50% of all mobile Internet traffic
• Over 800 million people have social media accounts
Friday, December 2, 2011
The Role Social Media Plays in Society
For a moment, forget that social media marketing takes place in an online world. Think back to the type of oldf ashioned, word-of-mouth marketing that has been taking place since the beginning of time.
For example, when you need to buy a new vacuum, you probably ask your family members, friends and even co-workers what kind of vacuum they have and their experience with the vacuum.
While the information they provide to you may not be the only factor you consider in making your vacuum purchase, receiving a recommendation from someone you know may be the deciding factor on which vacuum you buy.
Social media plays the same word-of-mouth role, however, the reach is much broader because you are not only reaching the lady who lives around the corner, you’re also reaching everyone that is her “friend” or “follower” on her social networks.
To give you an example of the impact this can have, the average Facebook user has 144 friends. Assume Client A buys your vacuum and raves about it on her Facebook page.
Right off the bat, you have reached 144 additional customers without doing anything. You have not spent one penny or exerted any energy. The buyer of the vacuum is the only one who put forth any effort by posting her comment on her Facebook page.
Now, the 144 people that news of the vacuum cleaner has reached also have their own set of friends. Assume each of the 144 friends also have 144 friends. With just one posting on a Facebook page, you can easily get in front of tens of thousands of people as the word spreads (approximately 20,736 from the 144 friends from the original poster and the 144 friends of those 144 people).
For example, when you need to buy a new vacuum, you probably ask your family members, friends and even co-workers what kind of vacuum they have and their experience with the vacuum.
While the information they provide to you may not be the only factor you consider in making your vacuum purchase, receiving a recommendation from someone you know may be the deciding factor on which vacuum you buy.
Social media plays the same word-of-mouth role, however, the reach is much broader because you are not only reaching the lady who lives around the corner, you’re also reaching everyone that is her “friend” or “follower” on her social networks.
To give you an example of the impact this can have, the average Facebook user has 144 friends. Assume Client A buys your vacuum and raves about it on her Facebook page.
Right off the bat, you have reached 144 additional customers without doing anything. You have not spent one penny or exerted any energy. The buyer of the vacuum is the only one who put forth any effort by posting her comment on her Facebook page.
Now, the 144 people that news of the vacuum cleaner has reached also have their own set of friends. Assume each of the 144 friends also have 144 friends. With just one posting on a Facebook page, you can easily get in front of tens of thousands of people as the word spreads (approximately 20,736 from the 144 friends from the original poster and the 144 friends of those 144 people).
Thursday, December 1, 2011
What is Social Media?
Before we go deep into the benefits that using social media can have on your business, let us first talk about the true definition of what social media is.
You, as a business owner, need to think of social media from a business point of view. Whether your target audience is consumers or other businesses, social media networks are where you can find existing and new business. Plus, not only can you reach your target audience through these networks, you can find them in large numbers and in one place.
Further, the social media platform forms a circle of trust, so it adds credibility and trustworthiness to your business when:
• One of your existing customers talks about how great your business product or service is, or how it solved an issue they were having
• You share information about your products, services or industry that speak to resolving a specific problem your ideal customers are having
• You respond to a complaint or an issue that a customer is talking about having with your business
• You can monitor and quickly respond to the good and the bad conversations that are taking place about your business
• You offer followers and friends on your social media networks special offers that nobody else receives
You, as a business owner, need to think of social media from a business point of view. Whether your target audience is consumers or other businesses, social media networks are where you can find existing and new business. Plus, not only can you reach your target audience through these networks, you can find them in large numbers and in one place.
Further, the social media platform forms a circle of trust, so it adds credibility and trustworthiness to your business when:
• One of your existing customers talks about how great your business product or service is, or how it solved an issue they were having
• You share information about your products, services or industry that speak to resolving a specific problem your ideal customers are having
• You respond to a complaint or an issue that a customer is talking about having with your business
• You can monitor and quickly respond to the good and the bad conversations that are taking place about your business
• You offer followers and friends on your social media networks special offers that nobody else receives
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Google Campaign - Step Twenty One
STEP 21
Some people are going to find this whole course a little overwhelming. Especially if they are attempting to rank for a very powerful and competitive keyword. Luckily you are not alone, you have options. You can always "outsource."
So what can you outsource?
You can outsource a number of activities that can help you save a lot of time, some of the things you can outsource that we talked about are...
Article Writing
Profile Backlinking
Directory Submissions
Our company offers you all in one solutions or specific solutions. We can handle all of the steps we have mentioned. The choice to outsource is yours, you have to weigh the time you spend doing this yourself versus how much that time is worth. If you have the money, it is a good idea to consider outsourcing, so you can focus on other money making strategies.
Our company comes highly recommended, here are just two of the comments on our Google places Page:
Call Us Today at 888-778-5450 and let us Help Grow Your Business. OR Go to our website and see the many ways we can help you.
www.WestCoastMktg.com
Some people are going to find this whole course a little overwhelming. Especially if they are attempting to rank for a very powerful and competitive keyword. Luckily you are not alone, you have options. You can always "outsource."
Monday, November 21, 2011
Google Campaign - Step Twenty
Step 20
This is the 20th lesson of our journey, and I think it is time to look back on what we have discussed. I want to use this time to share a checklist, how much of this list have you actually done?
1. Brainstorm what potential customers search for.
2. Use Google adwords to refine list.
3. Localize those terms.
4. Change title tags.
5. Change description tags.
6. Change image names.
7. Add privacy policy.
8. Add Google analytics.
9. Add Google webmaster tools
10. Add an XML site map and submit it to Google
11. Activate your business on Google Places
12. Add a blog to your website, or start an offsite one.
13. Add a blog post for each of your keywords (titled with the keyword).
14. Read general overview of backlinks.
15. Approach your friends and ask for backlinks.
16. Submit your website to web directories. Start with DMOZ.
17. Create high quality Profile links at the websites we suggested.
18. Submit an article that includes your backlink in the article resource box, at Ezine Articles.
19. Join and use the Five suggested Social Networking websites
If you have already done all of these steps, then your website has a great chance of being near the top of Google for your local search terms. Now it will depend on the size of the area you are targeting. For example, Toronto, NY and Chicago are tough local areas to crack of course. But if you are in a small or medium sized town you will be seeing results already.
The key to this list is to repeatedly do any steps that make sense. You do NOT want to change title and description tags repeatedly, but anything after Step 13 is best done thru repetition.
The two major keys to remember is to produce web content and anchor text rich backlinks as often as possible.
Google Campaign - Step Nineteen
STEP 19
The internet is currently being swept up in an explosion of social interaction. Social based sites like Facebook are driving the trend. When you have a website it is a good idea to tap into some of these sources. I want to look at a couple you should be using, and why they help.
Facebook Fan Page (www.facebook.com) - A ton of people use Facebook. Millions in fact. If you are under 30 then a majority of people you know probably use it. The younger you get the higher the ratio gets as well. You want a facebook fan page because you tap directly into all that traffic. People can easily share your business fan page to their "friends" and these "friends" can share to their "friends". Another bonus is you can share your website link to these people as well. Lastly, your Facebook fan page will have a lot of power in Google's eyes and it might rank on the search engines by itself. Try to get a keyword into your Facebook Fan Page title!
If you want to invest money, Facebook also offers a great advertising opportunity. You can purchase ads on the Facebook network that you can target to people in any geographical area, and base it on any of their "likes. For example you can target it to people in Canada who are 18-35 and interested in weight loss.
Twitter (www.twitter.com)- I also think all local business should have a Twitter account. Twitter is another super popular social site. It is a great place to get up to the minute information. To really tap into Twitter, you need to devote time to it and for most small business owners, that is impossible. Still it can be great for networking and as it grows in popularity it may become a must have for any business.
It allows you to keep track of anyone talking about you or your business in real time. You can also respond instantly to people who have questions about your general area of business. Monitor what people are saying about your competition and instantly woo the ones who complain.
Lastly, Twitter is now showing up in Google searches. Quite often when you search for current events, a Twitter feed will pop up above all of the Google results. As search engines begin the shift to social based searches, you will want to be active on these type of sites!
Digg (www.digg.com) - Digg is a social bookmarking site. At it's most basic level it is a place for people to share interesting links. You are going to want to create an account here and submit all of your webpages to Digg. Even if this doesn't result in traffic, it can give you a boost in your Google rankings. If you have a blog you should submit every post you make to Digg once you publish, this will help Google find your new content quickly.
Connotea (www.connotea.org) - Connotea is another bookmarking site. You can store all of your favorite websites here. Why not start with your own? Create an account here and link to each of your webpages. Connotea will create links that have your title tags as your anchor text. If you changed your title tags like suggested in an earlier lesson, you are set. Instant anchor text rich backlinks to your website. Again, if you have a blog submit each post here as you publish.
Mixx (www.mixx.com) - Mixx is yet another bookmarking site that will provide you with a solid backlink to your website (and blog posts). Just like Digg and Connotea, join and submit your website. Use keywords in the "title" field.
These five sites are a great way to get started in the social media world. You can be assured of a steady stream of web traffic if you are active on all of them. If you don't have time to manage these yourself, think about educating one of your tech savvy staff. Staff will often be motivated by these type of jobs if they are already active on these sites.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Google Campaign - Step Eighteen
Step Eighteen
We have been talking about how to generate backlinks to your website . A very easy way to get some more backlinks to your website is through article submission sites. There are a lot of article submission sites out there and more popping up everyday. For the purpose of this lesson I will be talking specifically about one:
***NOTE***If you want to tap into even more article submission sites you can check out this list: http://www.vretoolbar.com/articles/directories.php The process for these sites will be quite similar to the process for I explain below.
Ezine articles is the most popular article submission site on the internet. This process for getting backlinks only requires one thing - an article. You need to have a 250 word (minimum) article to submit to the site. For the most effectiveness, the article should be based around the keywords you have chosen for your website.
The general process is simple (the website will guide you more thoroughly).
1. Visit www.ezinearticles.com
2. Create a free account
3. Submit Your Article
You can include links to your site in two ways. First, you can add one to the body of the article (if it makes sense to be there). Make sure this link is near the bottom of the article (one of ezines many rules).
Secondly, every article you post comes with a resource box. This box is for you to do as you wish (within reason). It is a great chance for you to "sell" yourself or business with some catchy copy. You can also add an anchor text link in the resource box.
If you don't feel comfortable writing your own articles there are many online options. One example is Fiverr.com where you can pay someone $5 to write you an article (and in some cases more than one article)! There is no reason not to take advantage of the backlinks that article submissions provide.
Friday, November 11, 2011
Google Campaign - Step Seventeen
STEP 17
One of the more popular ways to get backlinks these days are through user profiles on websites. There are no lack of sites that offer free user profiles. Another benefit is that many of these profiles are connected to powerful web pages, so Google will view a link from them, more favorably.
***NOTE*** One way Google values websites is by using it's "Google PageRank (PR)." Installing the Google toolbar will let you see a webpages Google PageRank (PR). I won't get into PR fully, but basically it is an overview of the quality and quantity of links pointing towards a certain page. Google ranks sites on a scale of 0-10, with ten being the highest rank. The higher the PR of a website, the more valuable a link will be from that site.
You can find many websites that are a high PR (6+) that offer profiles to users. The profiles may be PR 0 themselves, but since they are connected to a high PR site, they are more valuable.
The key is how to find these profile sites. There are such a wide variety of these kind of sites, that no one method will encompass all of them. Your best bet is to keep your eyes open for high PR sites and see if they offer a user profile.
Most of these profiles will either have specific fields to fill out your links (like web directories) or else you will have to use the code we talked about in earlier lessons and post it in a space like an "about me" box.
To find these sites you can also do google searches for "free profile backlinks" and there are some good lists available on tech blogs. You can also purchase packets of these links from a service like Angela's Backlinks, which costs about $5 a month.
You might consider signing up for this free service: http://www.paulieciara.com/ freeweeklybacklinks/ This service sends you 5-6 sites to get profile links from every month (usually). They include helpful pictures to teach you how to get the backlinks. That is the KEY! You can only really learn how to find and create these links by doing it.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Google Campaign - Step Sixteen
Step Sixteen
Alright, so last lesson I had you "begging friends and family for backlinks. If you felt comfortable doing that you should have a few inbound links to your website so far. Great start! Let's move on to something that takes a little less social interaction though -- Online directories.
At one time, directories use to be pretty powerful when it came to search engines. They aren't as powerful as they once were, but they do still hold some weight. Also, when dealing with local search terms, you shouldn't have a lot of competition so this step might be enough to get you to the top of Google. Another bonus, there are probably thousands of these free directories online.
When it comes to directories there are two big dogs:
DMOZ (http://www.dmoz.org): This is the most powerful directory available. The first step to any backlinking campaign should include a submission to DMOZ. Just follow their posted instructions (to the letter, they are picky). The frustrating part is it can take months for DMOZ to approve your submission. Don't panic and resubmit too many times, check every 3 months and resubmit then if your link hasn't been approved.
The Yahoo Directory: This is separate from the Yahoo search results, it is another powerful directory. It does entail a cost though. It is the only paid directory I will suggest to you, and the only one I would personally pay for. It is a very powerful link, and if you are investing in a Google campaign it is a great place to start.
You can find hundreds of other directories by searching things like "Free webdirectories" on Google. To get you started here is a great list:
When you are submitting to these directories they will usually ask for the "title" of your link. This will be your anchor text, so you should be using your chosen keywords.
This is a great first step, and can easily be outsourced to friends or family.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Google Campaign - Step 15
Step Fifteen
This is the first lesson about where to get backlinks, this is one of the simplest methods...ask your friends, family and business contacts!
Anyone you know who has a website may have a spot for a backlink. It can not hurt to ask.
***NOTE*** One for one link trades are not very effective, if your friends/family won't link to your site without you reciprocating, then try to offer them something other than a link back to their site. If you trade one for one links, they almost cancel out in Google's eyes. You can still do it of course, but if you can get a backlink without reciprocating, do it!
Just start with your family - any of your kids have blogs? What about your extended family? Once you have exhausted that route, move on to friends and then eventually business contacts. It couldn't be simpler to ask people, just email them...
Hey Joe,
Ted here, hope all is well! I am just contacting you because I was curious if you would mind linking to my website? I am just trying to expand my web presence. It would be super helpful if the link could say "Toronto Landscaping" as well. If you need the code for that, I have it handy here:
<a href="”http://www.yoursite.com”">Toronto Landscaping</a>
You can just copy and paste that into the code of your site anywhere! I appreciate the link and if there is anything you need just let me know.
Ted
That is just an example, but it shows how easy it is to ask. Even if only a few people help you out, it can make a big difference.
If you don't feel comfortable doing that though, don't worry, future lessons will look at some ways you can get backlinks on your own!
Friday, October 28, 2011
Google Campaign - Step 14
Backlinks: Backlinks are the number one most important factor when you want your website to get to the top of Google searches. In the simplest terms, backlinks are links on the internet that point back to your site.
Anchor Text: Anchor text is the actual text of the link. For example, if you notice on a website you can click on certain words and be taken to another site, those words are the "anchor text". Commonly, you might see the words "Click Here" and when you click them you are taken to another site. The "Click Here" is the anchor text in that case. This is important and you will see why later.
Google loves backlinks, and it is widely believed that they are the single best way to get your site to the top of Google. If a site has a lot of other sites linking to it then that site is powerful in Google's eyes, why else would there be so many other sites linking to it?
Developing backlinks should be the majority of your Google search engine optimization. The key is to use anchor text properly! You want your keywords to be the anchor text. If you want to get to the top of Google for "Toronto Landscaping" then you want as many links as possible with that as the anchor text.
Future lessons will tell you how to build these links, but sometimes you may be required to use some HTML OR BBcode. The code is very simple though, and it is worth memorizing:
HTML
<a href=”http://www.yoursite.com”>ANCHOR TEXT aka KEYWORD</a>
BBcode
[url=”http://www.yoursite.com”]ANCHOR TEXT aka KEYWORD[/a]
On a high level that is really it. Create backlinks with your keywords as the Anchor Text. That is the most effective way to climb to the top of Google. Future lessons will let you know where to get them!
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Google Campaign - Step 13
Step Thirteen
Alright in the last lesson we talked about the ways you can incorporate a blog into your site. If you aren't interested in blogging, then you can ignore this lesson. The future lessons will get you back on the track on how to promote your traditional site. This lesson is how people can best use their blog to attract customers. These tips work whether the blog is on your main site, or hosted elsewhere (wordpress.com for example).
The key to a blog is updating it properly. I will discuss two techniques you can use.
1. Brand yourself as an expert. Use your blog to answer questions about your industry. Think of a huge list of questions people might have about your service or product. Each question can be one "post" on your blog. You might even start to rank in Google for these questions, attracting potential leads when they search for answers.
2. Use your original keywords. Remember you made a huge list of local search terms in one of the first steps? You used some of these keywords on your website already but you probably a have a large list remaining. Here is where you can use them. Each keyword is the title of your post!
***NOTE*** If using Wordpress.com set your permalinks (in settings menu) to Custom: /%postname%/ . This will ensure that the URL of each of your posts has the post title in the address. Which means, you will also have keywords in your URL. A definite bonus in Google's eyes.
Now you can make a post a day, or a week or whatever. They key is to stay active and somewhat regular. No huge delays in between posts. Once you have a huge list of questions to answer, in combination with your existing keyword list, start making posts. You can even make a bunch of small posts one day, and schedule them to show up on your blog at future dates.
As for the posts themselves, I think you can keep it simple. I would suggest to aim for +250 words. You can add a picture if you want, but it isn't necessary. If your blog is offsite, remember to include a link to your main website.
In conclusion: The best bet is a website built with WordPress. The second best option is to have your blog offsite but linking to your site. Make regular blog posts using keyword terms and industry specific news/questions. Keep the posts in the 250 word range.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Google Campaign - Step 12
Step Twelve
Alright, this step is pretty huge. I don't expect everyone to take it but it can make a big difference both in terms of website functionality and search engine rankings.
Your website really should have a blog . This is a big step and it can be accomplished a couple of ways.
1. You can build your entire site using WordPress . This is the ultimate choice because WordPress offers you so many benefits. Google loves it. It is a blogging platform by nature and you can update your website using the WordPress back office, which is as simple as using a word processing program. Lastly, you can use "plugins" to accomplish many of the tasks from earlier lessons.
Now that said - this is a high level choice with a cost and time commitment you may not be able to handle right now. That is fine, there is an alternative. If you ever do commit to a site redesign or a new website, consider WordPress as the platform, but until then...
2. You create an offsite blog and link to it from your website (vice versa you link to your site from the blog). This is a simple solution and can be done quickly and free! You can do a Google search on "free blogs" and get a ton of results. I strongly suggest WordPress.com though. You can enjoy some of the benefits from the above and If you do ever move your website to a WordPress platform you will be familiar with the back office. Just visit Wordpress.com (or blogging site of your preference) and follow the on screen directions to create your blog.
***NOTE***If you are asked for the title of your blog and web address, use your favorite keywords from the list you created in early lessons!
The basic idea of a blog is an online journal. You make "posts" (daily, weekly or whatever) about your business. Blogs are important because they allow you to create and produce content quickly. The more content you have on your website, the more powerful Google views that site.
For example your website grows by another webpage every time you make a post. So instead of your website having five pages, if you made a post every day your blog would have well over 360 pages by then end of the year. A 360 page site is more powerful than a five page site in Google's opinion.
So the goal now is to either build a website that natively supports a blog, or create one off site and link to your site. The next lesson will deal with how to use the blog, then we will end the blog talk and the rest of the lessons will be applicable to traditional sites as well.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Google Campaign - Step 11
STEP ELEVEN
This next step is a big one. This step is bigger than search results placement -it is a must for every business out there, even those that don't want to dominate the local search terms.
Google has a local business center that allows users to basically get a profile of their business integrated into Google Maps. This step is a big one for local businesses. You definitely want your business coming up on Google Maps. It will help people with directions, be seen by anyone searching Google Maps and it could help in the search engines. Have you ever searched for something on Google and instead of the normal results, a map pops up showing you all of the local businesses that match your search? You want to be on that list! Best part is it is free and easy.
***NOTE*** Google Local Business Center is now known as Google Places.
To get started visit:
www.google.com/local/add/businessCenter (or you can visit www.google.com/places and click on add new business)
Once again you get to flex your mighty Google Account, use the account you created for previous steps to log in once you visit the above link. Click on Add a New Business.
The next page you are prompted to enter your country and phone number. You should enter your business number here to see if Google already has your business listed. If it does, then you can follow the on screen directions to edit and verify your business.
If your business doesn't exist you will get a form to fill out. Take your time and fill out the form as best as you can. Make sure to include a link to your website . I also like including a couple of pictures, it does make a difference. Give as much information as you are comfortable with. The more you fill out, the better your listing will look. Once you are done, click submit.
The next step requires you to verify your business. This is done in one of three ways. Phone call to business phone number, text to listed cell phone number or a post card. The first two are nearly instant, the post card takes a week or so. All three methods result in a PIN number you need to enter in the back office of your Google Places account. Once you have verified your listing it will be published and you are done a very effective step. You will now show up in Google maps searches, and possibly google search results.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Google Campaign - Step 10
STEP TEN
I was gonna mention this point near the end, but since we just set up the Google Webmaster Tools account lets move on to XML Sitemaps.
An XML Sitemap is a file that lists all of the URL's of your website. This file will allow search engines to quickly find any new pages you add (or posts if you have a blog).
The first thing you have to do is actually create the XML file. If you use WordPress for your website (more on this later, always recommended) there is a plugin called "Google XML-Sitemaps". This plugin will handle XML Sitemap creation and submission. It is highly recommended. For those of us with traditional websites, read on...
Creating an XML Sitemap from scratch is not really fun, especially if you have tons of pages. There are lots of XML Sitemap Generators out there, you just have to search for them. The one I most recently used was:
You can use this one, or find your own. Once you have found one just follow the onscreen directions to create your sitemap. On the above site, you will get a link to download your xml file. Once you have done that, you will have to upload that document to your website. You can do this yourself via FTP, or your website's backend. You can also get your web designer to do it. If you upload the file to your public_html folder, then the link to the sitemap will be www.yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml (or whatever you titled it, keep it simple with sitemap.xml though).
Once you have your sitemap URL it is time to go back to Webmaster Tools! Log into your account and then under the Site Configuration tab will be a Sitemaps link. Click that link and you will see a "Submit a Sitemap" button. Click that button and add the URL of your sitemap. You are done!
Monday, October 17, 2011
Google Campaign - Step 9
STEP NINE
Last lesson, we discussed Google Analytics. Google doesn't just offer analytics, it also offers another free web service called Google Webmaster Tools. Similar to Analytics, this also offers website owners some cool features on top of a potential rankings boost.
Using Google Webmaster tools allows you to do things like:
★ Submit Sitemaps (more in future lessons)
★ Find external links to your website
★ Analyze your Title and Description tags (helps eliminate duplicate ones)
★ Navigation Diagnostics - Will let you know of dead links on your website, or pages that Google can not see
For our purposes, the real benefit to this is a potential boost in your search engine results. Setting up Webmaster Tools is a snap - especially if you did the last step (Analytics).
You need to start by visiting:
You can use your current Google Account to access Webmaster Tools. It is recommended you use the same account that you used to set up Analytics (I will explain later).
Once you have accessed and logged in to Webmaster Tools. You will see a button that says "Add A Site" click this button and add your website URL. Once you have done that you will be taken to a verification screen. There you will see a piece of code you can add to the area of your webpage.
Are you sick of dealing with website code? Well, if you set up Google Analytics with the same account you are using now, you will be able to verify using that code you have already added. Look for that option and choose it.
If everything goes smoothly you will now have a verified Webmaster Tools account. Once your data populates you can check out the different options available to you now. Google has a great knowledge base with answers to just about any question you may have.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Google Campaign For You
STEP EIGHT
The entire goal of this course is to get your site on the first page of Google for your search terms (keywords). The higher the better. Thats the reason we don't leave a stone unturned. If there is something that might help us get there, we need to take a shot.
Google provides a number of free tools for the webmaster. One of the most important is Google Analytics. This tool allows you to keep track of your web traffic. You can monitor how many people visit your site and how they got there (amongst dozens of other measurables). If that was the only benefit it would still be well worth it. These lessons are concerned about Google search rankings though, how does this fit?
Well it is the opinion of many people that Google lends some weight to sites that use their website services. In my opinion, this makes it a complete "no brainer".
You can monitor your websites traffic AND possibly boost the status of your site in the eyes of the almighty Google. Win win.
To set up Google analytics follow these steps:
1. You will need a Google Account, you can get one form Google.com if you don't already have one. If you have gmail, you have a google account.
2. Then you need to visit: https://www.google.com/analytics/ and there will be a big "access analytics" button, click it. You will have to enter your Google account information.
3. You will be prompted to enter things such as your URL, country and time zone. Do that and hit continue. You will be prompted to enter some personal information, enter that and hit continue again.
4. Next step you will read and agree to Analytics terms and services.
5. Now that is done, you will get the "Google tracking Code". This code will need to go into your website code (yes code again, hopefully you are comfortable with this or have a good web designer). Just enter the code provided onto the bottom of the pages you want to track, right before the tag.
6. In 24 hours you will begin to receive updates on your web traffic! Simple as that.
For more detailed instructions (including pics) visit:
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